Apex Legends: First Season
by TrinityKnight
Summary: So, this my first time writing and Publishing literally anything. I'm not a pro writer and I'm kind of garbage so take it easy LOL. The Apex games are conducted using clones that are similar to humans, but are completely synthetic and can still feel pain. I added some original characters to make it more mine. Kuben blisk owns the games. No dlc characters yet. W,M,P centered
1. Chapter 1

Apex Legends

By Mr. Hood

Liberation from the IMC brought chaos to the outlands and the revival of an old blood sport. They call it the "Apex Games" and the competitors "Legends". Some fight for fortune, others answers. In the end, it doesn't matter. In the end it boils down to survival. Plain and simple. You can fight for whatever you want, but we shall all be forged in the glorious realm...

"Mirage! Quiet."

Mirage stands nonchalantly as he responses with a sarcastic tone.

"What? I'm just, you know, setting the mood."

The woman with a very gothic appearance looks at him disapprovingly and tad annoyed. She would be the unofficial leader of their group of three. Confident, focused and above all, deadly.

"Path, are we clear?"

She says as she turns her head to their robotic companion. It stares out of the glassless, barred window into the green woodland area, holding his Longbow sniper rifle between the bars. Through his scope he sees a one from the tracker race.

"I spy a tracker!" He exclaims.

Wraith looks at him concerned "Is it Bloodhound?

"I do not believe so. Should I eliminate him?"

She nods, "Fire away." Pathfinder aims directly at the trackers head. "This is my favorite part" just as he locks on, the tracker turns their head, spotting Pathfinder. Before they can react ,he fires at the tracker before they could avoid him. The bullet rips through the air, through trees and through the trackers skull.

Wraith feeling uneasy decides to survey the area through the other windows. The crew falls silent for a second before becoming startled by Mirage.

"Loot Crate! Let's see what we got." As per usual, Mirage takes advantage of the situation and tries to take the gear for himself. As he opens the crate a burst of golden light sweeps the room. "Jackpot. Well don't mind if I do." He reaches down into the light once again to pilfer the loot before anyone notices. This time Wraith was too quick for him. Before he could lay claim to the treasure, Wraith grabs his hand with an authoritative grip. "Back off."

Mirage stumbles with his words, try to think of a good reason why he should have it. "Aw, guys come on. I'm a Legend in this thing. If anyone can make use of it, it's definitely yours truly."

"A legend?" She Scoffs. "Legends don't choke under pressure. Which seems to be your go to move. So unless you want me to take it off your dead corpse when that new guy makes you go comatose again, it's mine."

He chuckles in disbelief. "Yours? If it wasn't for me you'd still be laying down on the job and that hotshot gunner chick would've taken you out. With a Mozambique of all things. And...and by the way, isn't sneaking your specialty?" The room falls silent as the two stare each other down. You can feel the struggle for dominance in the air. Before it comes to a screaming 'it's mine; no it's mine' match, Pathfinder speaks up.

"Well, if we are basing the ownership of the item on usefulness and number of kills per match, then I believe with 10 kills the loot should be mine." If it wasn't tense before, it is now. They both turn to him with daggers in their eyes. Pathfinder never felt so threatened by these two until now. Mirage tries to refute the claim. "Thats gotta be a made up number."

"No." he says with a concerned tone. "The number is correct. The three from skull town, the four from water treatment, the three when we landed at the bridge and the tracker just now." The two just stand there with lackluster looks. He tries to break the tension with a show of friendship.

"High Five?"

Both look at Pathfinder as if he is speaking more nonsense than the drunk who invented the games. Mirage sizes him up with a glance and Wraith just shakes her head disapprovingly. He emotes a frowny face on his chest screen and lowers his hand. "Right so we're all in agreement that I..."

As Mirage babbles on about his vein needs, Wraith hears voices in her conscious calling from the beyond, overlapping in her mind

"They know where you are. You've been spotted. Grenade." With that, Wraith looks towards the doorway. Seeing a black orb in the air makes its way inside. Mirage sees it in front of him, but it's too late. Pathfinder reacts immediately and tries to move but before anyone can move, Wraith already created a portal and jumps into it before the explosive goes off. As the smoke clears you can hear heavy footsteps approaching. Those footsteps turn into more as figures step out of the smoke.

When the dust settles, we see Kodai Squad walk into the building. The big man, Gibralter gloats, "Kodai Squad wins again". The powerful and fear inducing Bloodhound inspects the kill "their deaths still have honor." The caring (yet sadistic) Lifeline gloats alongside Gibraltar. "Poor Bastards. Didn't even see us coming." Gibraltar spys the loot in the box. "Look at the loot they left Gibraltar!", he shouts as he claims it for himself, but the circle of greed and ego continues with them as Lifeline stops him before he can take it. As their squabbling is about to begin, Bloodhound senses senses something off. They scan the room as the other two argue and realize one is missing. As they turns his head slightly towards the window, a shot rings out and hits Bloodhound in the skull and Gibraltar in the knee. Both fall to the floor hard as Lifeline backs away. She tries to stay out of the line of sight but another shot rings out. It hits Gibraltar in the chest causing massive bleeding. He dies looking right at her, trying to warn his teammate, but ends before he could relay Waiths position.

She sits and tries to form a plan of exit with her team's second chance revival banners, but each time she reaches for them a shot would fire. The situation gets heavy and her body begins to shake. She decides to risk it all for her team. Lifeline dives into the bodies and get the banners but when she runs out of the building, she's met with a hail of sniper fire. She tries to avoid Wraith's shots as well as she can before she can bring back her team through the conscious transfer system. This system allows for peoples real bodies to be kept safe in the safe in an orbital base for those taking part of the Apex Games. Their consciousness is put in a cloned body that is easily disposable, but still comes with everything a real body does. Including pain receptors. She runs through the dirt and climbs over hills to try to avoid gun fire. Only she didn't notice that the gunfire stopped. Lifeline could see the beacon not too far off. She rushes with everything she has to get to the beacon, but before she could reach it, Wraith jumps out of the void and slashes her throat with her kunai. Everything becomes still. Neither of them moves. As Wraith cleans her blade, Lifeline falls forward, holding her neck and trying to crawl to the beacon. She steps in front of her and gloats.

"Didn't see that coming?" She says sarcastically before stomping on her head. After she loots the bodies, she goes back to pick up Mirage's recovery banner. She looks at Pathfinder sitting there lifeless. Wraith takes her kunai and stabs his breastplate. She removes his chest piece revealing his wiring and circuits. She cuts the red wire and the yellow wire with a white strip and zaps them together. After a few tries, she finally gets him back online. She looks at him with a smirk. "Welcome back."

Pathfinder seems confused, but in his own automatonic way, thankful. "That was exciting. Thank you!", he says as he grabs her arm to stand. Once they get themselves together, they begin to make their way through the section they named "Bridges". Wraith and Pathfinder make their way over the hillside to the overlook. As she approaches the beacon, Pathfinder grapples to the top of the building, to get a better vantage point. She inserts the recovery banner into the beacon. When inserted, it blasts out a beam of bright green light. Wraith looks up and sees a small dropship comes out of Jump Space. When it begins to hover, they see the ramp drop and Mirage standing on the edge holding on to the ship waiting to drop.

As he stares down on his team, he and Wraith exchange smirks. He lets go of the bar and leans forward. As he drops, you can hear him in the coms exclaiming his return.

"Mirage to the res..." and as he fall from the ship, he's shot multiple times from across the field. Wraith then hears the voices of the void telling her that she's in danger. 'You're in danger' 'what your 6' 'runaway', but it's far too late. She's hit with a Kraber shot in abdomen. Wraith slowly turns around to see the merc Amadeus "Titan" Spellbroke. A former IMC shadow fixer who's responsible for his fair share carnage in the Frontier. As a hired gun, he did what he wanted In the name of IMC and chalk it up to collateral damage. By the time she realized what happened, she began to lose feeling in her legs and she collapses. Wraith hits the ground with a heavy thud. Dust stirs and surrounds her bodies. Pathfinder tries to grapple to Wraith but as he grabs her and tries to get away a, shot hits his chest screen. The screen flashes different emotions and just switches to an 'off air' channel. He drops Wraith on the ground while creating shocking noises and loudly glitching. From the ground, she looks at Pathfinder falling to the ground stiff as a rock. When she leans her head back, she can see the man they call "Caustic", standing over her along with Titan and Erik "Viper" Gurerra. Titan can't help but seem so smug about their defeat. He looks down at her with the Kraber. 50-Cal sniper rifle on his shoulder. Wraith continues to struggle with the constant pain running through her body. Titan stares at her while gloating. "Ah, I bet that hurts. Does it? I shot through your stomach so the acid must be making its way through you." He kneels down in front of her. "Don't worry, you'll live." He says chuckling at his own humor. Titan continues to gloat with his final words being said through sing-song. "Stay Toooned." He's says while putting a P2020 to her head and pulls the trigger. She hears a boom, then sees nothing but darkness.

As if waking from a nightmare, Wraith awakens surrounded by her teammates Mirage & Pathfinder. She finds herself in the med station. The room is covered in a red light shinning from the ceiling. The room looks metallic, bloody and unsanitary. Yggdrasil has it's superficial charms, but it's not the med corps. The smell of chemicals and soap hits her nose like pollen on the breeze. She slowly regains her consciousness. Mirage stands by her trying to calm her down.

"Woah woah woah, take it easy. You just came back. Take it slow."

Wraith becomes impatient. A series of who's, what's and why's fly through her mind. Moving too fast for her to actually get them out. "What happened?" Pathfinder answers her with a simple, yet not untrue, response. "I believe we lost." Wraith still in a daze coming out of consciousness so abruptly, looks at Mirage with a look that says 'can you answer me with pissing me off'. "What happened?" Mirage shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't know. All I saw was you aaannndd then the ground. Apparently it was Spellbroke who got us." Wraith was not satisfied with that answer, even knowing that it was the truth.

"How did he get the drop on us?" She queries. Pathfinder takes his chance to answer her, "The odds that he could have found any one of us is 3 out of 60. We should have taken him to the Respawn Beacon opposite of the Bunker." Wraith gets off the table and tries to shuffle to the counter to get her things. She grabs the small silver reflective bag and pulls out her gloves and puts them on. She looks over to mirage, scanning his ridiculous outfit. His green jacket covered in his signature panels to create his holograms and baggy black leather pants make her roll her eyes in irritation. As she finishes getting ready, the doctor tries to convince her to take it easy.

"Hey! You know that you could have some mental scarring. Maybe even physical side effects from the ruff return."

Wraith, once again, doesn't care. "A lot of things might kill me, my mind isn't one."

The doctor scoffs and retracts his statement. "You know what? Do whatever. Not like you people listen to me anyway." She gets herself together and starts moving towards the door. "Oh yeah, you might want to think about getting another team."

Wraith stops and looks toward the doc with an offended look on her tired face. "What do you mean by that?" The doctor continues to clean his instruments. "I mean... all you three do is argue and piss each other off. Not productive and NOT the way to be the Apex Legend this season." Wraith turns away from him without saying a word. As she exits the room, Mirage follows quickly after her. Pathfinder stays for a moment and stares awkwardly at the doc. Pathfinder has a fascination with trying to process human emotions. So, he has a tendency to try and emote to match the same feelings. "I'm sure she won't try to kill you, even though you upset her. Friend?" He tries to get a high five from the doctor, but is ultimately, rejected.

We rejoin Wraith as she walks furiously towards the market section of Yggdrasil. Mirage follows her like a hyperactive puppy, trying to get her to pay attention to him.

" You know, that dude isn't a 'real' doctor. He probably just has a problem with our talent." Wraith continues to walk away from him. "It's sooo obvious he wants to be a Legend, but can't. It's sad really." Mirage folds his arms and smirks while closing his eyes as if he actually believes the load of baloney he's spewing. Though he maybe a master at convincing people and getting his way, it's never that simple with her. Her powers aren't just controlling the void and matter shift phasing, she can also phase through Mirage's bullshit.

Mirage starts getting more and more concerned at her extended silence. He usually can at least get a response from her. Whether it's a chuckle, a smirk or pure anger, he can do that to her. That's his 'special ability' in a way. "Look we'll get them next time. So, hows about we go get some genzo fuel and...", Wraith interrupts him.

"Elliot..." she stops and turns back to him. Mirage stops in his tracks. His eyes widen and he freezes. He does nothing but stare at her eyes as they change from pure white to her normal blue. "I need to be alone" she said turning to walk into the incredibly large and beautiful market section. It's filled with bright lights, loud noises and a mix of smells from all over the base. Yggdrasil Station is not just home to the Legends, but also home to the most popular shopping center in the Frontier. She walks into a dirty bar named "Storm Shock". The bar has very little customers, but that's why Wraith goes to it. She doesn't like many people and chooses to avoid them.

As Wraith sits at the squeaky stool, Mirage follows right behind. "Did...did i do something wrong here. I mean,I...I've been trying to follow your lead, I just like to add a little flare, you know?" He pleads his case to her, but once again misses the point.

"Look, I just have to think about something and I'd like to think...alone."

With those words, she found Mirage's off switch. "Okay. Just, if you need me, I'll...you know, be at Bennette's."

As she waves him away, the bartender serves her a dark yellowish drink. When she finally has some time to think about herself, the doctor walks in and approaches the bar. Without missing a step, he waives his hand towards the bartender. "Get me something strong, thanks", he says as if he's getting a drink with a buddy. The tension between Wraith and the good doctor was heavy. He takes a drink and looks at Wraith as if he was concerned for her.

"Look, I'm sorry for what i said" he says with sincerity. "I don't mean to upset you. I was just thinking about your reason for being here and..." He stops himself from finishing his sentence.

"I'm just sorry."

Wraith swirls here drink, looking deep into the counter while listening to what he has to say. It's like the brown drink and the bright counter top make a combination that puts her into a trance. She leans forward holding her drink closer. "Henry, do you really think I need a new team?" She turns to him and sees his shocked expression. He takes a deep breath and speaks his mind.

"Well..." he pauses to choose his words carefully. "I understand why you choose Pathfinder. You two have a lot of similarities. He woke up in an old, run down laboratory with no memory, no identity and no one. Basically a blank slate. A lot like you." He took another sip of his drink finishing it off. "But Elliot..."

"Elliot got us here." She says in defense of the absent Mirage.

"No, you got them here. He just gave you the in." He leans over more and faces her directly. "He uses your skill to get closer and closer to Apex Legend status. You carry him, you protect him and he just drags you down."

She looks back at her drink reflecting on their past games together. Mirage always tries to draw attention and put on a show. Which, almost always works for a distraction, but his showboating always goes too far.

"At least Pathfinder is self sufficient. Elliot finds a the spotlight everywhere you go and always, hurts the team."

Wraith, once again tries to defend his status on the team. "He gets kills and he watches our back. That's all I ask." He scoffs at the idea of Mirage actually being useful.

"All he does is get lucky. Look," he says trying to regain traction of the conversation. "I'm not here to just talk about him. What about your goal? You want to find out what happened before you came back from the void. Why that other version of you was in that lab and saved you and who you are, but Elliot isn't helping anything. He's holding you back from looking for any sign of the place you escaped."

He moves in closer to Wraith. She leans away a bit, probably do to the smell of chemicals and strong liquor. "Did you find anything on that?" she says trying to keep him from losing his train of thought again.

"Actually there's been a development. I hear their opening the closed off section of the island. You could check there for sure." He asks for another, but before he could raise his hand she puts it down for him.

He stares at her for some time. Long enough to be noticeable by both of them. "Look, just think about what I said. You should know by now, people like him are temporary. Their useless to your goal." He pushes himself up and off the bar. "Good luck tomorrow, Wraith." he says before turning to walk out of the bar.

Wraith, once again, is alone. With all the noise and people bothering her, she can't even finish her drink. She lightly push the glass away and puts the money on the counter. She walks out of the bar with no idea what she'll be doing for the games and what she needs to decide.

As Wraith reflects on her future, Pathfinder decided to go to the mechanic shop. Having troubles with understanding humans, he thinks that it could be a mechanical error. He doesn't understand that robots aren't supposed to understand emotion or the human mind, yet he still tries to find ways in connecting with them. The mechanic finishes his work and reattached his scene with a strong thump of his palm. " Okay, that should do her. Try to use the new emotes."

"Okay" he says as he powers up his screen. The system starts up normally and goes to a blank screen.

"Good, now think confused."

Pathfinder's screen turns to a confused yellow face.

"Awesome! Now give me the new angry face."

"Alright." Pathfinder changes his screen from the blue face to the angry red face.

"Nice, everything checks out." He says while putting away his tools.

"Excellent. Thank you!"

"Hey Path, don't take offense, but why do you even have this screen. Not like you actually feel these emotions. Is it a comfort thing?"

Pathfinder turns his head in confusion, triggering the new emote that he demonstrated. "Haha, ok you got me. Alright enjoy the new gear."

Pathfinder walks out of the room with new gear and a readiness for the games, but what the mechanic said upset him in a way. Although he may not understand or even have a lot of ways to show them, Pathfinder has emotions. No one knows except for the Henry the doctor and Wraith. He doesn't really want it to be known because he doesn't fully understand why he has these strange, feeling at all.

The day that the entire new frontier has been waiting for has arrived. The first day of the new season has arrived and everyone is ready for the battles. It seems like the only ones not excited are the Legends who know about the carnage of the games. Most of the first timers, and even some returning losers are on edge. Most are ex military and guns for hire, so they know what to expect. Doesn't make it any less tense for them all.

After a night of light drinking and planning, Wraith makes her way through the wide hall to meet with the others for briefing. Through the halls you can see the participants standing around. Scanning all who pass, trying to figure out the contender's from the corpses. She strode down the hallway with such confidence, as if to let everyone know that she is to absolutely be considered a threat. The others stand analyzing her every move as she makes her way to the open double doors at the end of the hallway. From the way she puts her heel to the ground to the rhythm of her steps, they notice everything about her. They know she's not too be underestimated. You can hear the whispers from onlookers. To Wraith, it's like gnats in her ears.

The tension in the hallways lifts as everyone hears a man bellow from across the hall.

"All contestants may now enter the War Room!" he yells filling the place with his deep bass filled voice. It echoes through the hall causing everyone to rush to the doors in a stampeding fashion. As they all rush in, we see the good doctor Henry pushes his way out of the room and through the crowd. Wraith sees him and slows down to a stop. Nor noticing her yet, he steadily approaches with worry written all over his face. She notices it once he raises his gaze to meet her's. He stops in front of her in silence for a few seconds.

"Henry, you ok?" She says concerningly.

Something is obviously upsetting and it's putting him on edge. "No, not really and I don't have time to explain. Look whatever happens, say no." He says confusing Wraith. Shocked at what she's been told, she had trouble coming up with anything else but "What?" Before he could go into detail, a big man with a medic uniform rushes pass them.

"Come on. We're gotta go now." The man says anxiously as he passes him, tapping his shoulder.

"I'm coming." He says as he tries too wave of the man away. "Just hold on."

"Okay, don't forget what they said."

"I'm not. Now go." The fellow medic rushes off down the hall to go to a small ship that's ready to leave. "Wraith just, don't do it alright. Don't." He clumsy rushes around the crowd leaves Wraith confused and dumbfounded. She watches him leave and begins looking around as if she's missed something obvious. Before she could chase him down, she feels a tap her shoulder. Wraith turns quickly ready for an attack, but comes to realize it's Mirage.

"Woahhoho. It's just me. Jeez the games haven't even started and your already jump…" She cuts him off before he can finish.

"Henry was acting weird."

"Well… he's Henry so…"

Before Elliott could go on making jokes, Wraith interrupts him. "I think we should find MRVN. Now." Then, as if he could feel the burning in his nonexistent ears, they hear Pathfinder call from across the hall. "Friends! I've been waiting for you. Come, we're about to start!" Before Wraith could suggest they wait, Mirage starts walking to him. Wraith follows not long after, but acts suspiciously towards everything she sees.

When they enter the room they see a crowd of people standing all around a stage suspended mid air. It's a dark room filled with small traces of light neon colors. Wraith begins to scan the room her paranoia not letting up. Soon she finds Pathfinder and Mirage standing side-by-side. Her and her team meet up just a few spaces from the stage. The room is full of teams conversing between each other.

As the room fills with loud voices and obnoxious laughter, a man steps up to the platform. As a man steps onto the center of the platform, the room begins to get quiet. He even gets the full attention Wraith, who was busy scanning the room to find what made her feel so off. As if whatever was setting her off would be obvious and stick out. Her attention turns towards the man as he addresses the entire room.

"Hello potential Legends!" he says in an explosive and entertaining tone. He gets the crowd riled up with anticipation. "Welcome to a new season of the Frontiers craziest most intense program of all time, Apex Legends!" The crowd cheer and applaud in excitement as the light dim down and bright neon colors cover the stage. "This season will have the most exciting twists and turns like no season has ever had. This season, we've made a few changes to Kings Canyon." He lifts his hands up to the ring of metal and lights above him. The ring lifts up high above the stage as the small projectors on the ring being too light up and turn. The ring then creates a 3D hologram of Kings Canyon appears above his head. "This season's we've decided that not only will you be able to take advantage of familiar locations, but we have officially finished construction and now the entire island is open!" They cheer even louder knowing that this could mean there are more opportunities for the taking.

"Yeah! And now I'd like to introduce you to our new loot system." The 3D construct turns from different locations of Kings Canyon to three squares. White, blue and purple. "These are representative colors showing you what is worth taking and what's not. Armors are greatly affected by this system. White can last against a few rounds from a P2020 or a G7 Scout, but our new Longbow sniper rifle or Spitfire light machine gun will tear through that like a blade through paper. So just remember to plan your attack accordingly."

The room fills with anticipation. Everyone here is ready for the fight of a lifetime. Everyone that is, except Wraith. She stands there staring at the and in the black suit and grunge t-shirt. As if he is not telling them the complete truth. The continual replay of what Henry said to her runs through her mind like an alarm that just won't stop ringing.

The announcer waits for the crowd to die down before he delivers his final announcement. "And now it is my true honor to Welcome to the stage the man who brought these games back to life. The man behind the curtain, Mr Kuben Blisk!"

The room explodes with applause. The crowd screams and yells as if their Messiah appeared right before their eyes. The room gets quiet as death when the sound of his boots stomping up to the platform pervade the air. He stands on the hovering platform, thumbs holding his belt loops. He stares at the crowd with a cheeky smirk. He puffs out his chest and bellow's out.

"Hello my Legends. Today is the day we've been waiting for." His voice changes from jokingly cocky to a very stern tone.

"I spent the last few months thinking. Thinking about why i'm not satisfied with the way we've conducted these games." He says stoically as the crowd seems confused. "This season I wanted to do something a much MUCH different. I have decided that this season, anyone who participates in the games will have greatest fight of their life." He pauses to let his words sink in.

"This time, there will be no respawn. You only get one life, yours."

Then out of the crowd, we hear Mirage shout out "What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is, there are no clones. For this season, it's all or nothing."

They all begin to freak out and chatter amongst themselves. Many questioning whether it's all a joke or a fake gimmick. A contestant speaks up, voicing his anger.

"This is unfair. You can't do this." His protesting sparks fierce yelling from almost everyone.

He crosses his arms and begins to yell over them before coming back down to a regular speaking voice. "Now now, I know that comes as a shock, but with this very high risk, comes a _very_ high reward." He says staring at Mirage. This season, if you win, you'll earn the title of Apex Predator and quadruple the normal prize money. And anyone who chooses to not participate, can leave now."

The crowd looks around trying to see who's still there. The contestants are still. No one wants to be the first to leave. The expressions on everyone's face is a mix of anxiety and fear. In all the room there's only one who voices his dislike of this and decides to leave with his life, Mirage.

"Whatever, I'm out." He says turning away from his team and sparking a wave of competitors following behind. "This is…", before he can finish Wraith grabs his arm.

"Elliott, wait." She tries to talk sense into him, but Elliott knows that there's no conversation to be had.

"We need you to stay. You're part of this squad. Don't do this."

"Look," Mirage says before letting out a short, sharp breath. "I signed up to be famous and rich. This was a game and now...now it's all too real for me. I can't just leave my mother without any of her children. Do you understand that?"

He pauses to look in her eyes for some semblance of understanding, but all ye see's is her dark eyes staring blankly back.

"Of course you would. You don't have anyone who gives a shit about you." He knows that's not true, but he knew the only way for her to let him go was to hurt her. "You're just a blank slate hiding behind a goth chick face. You wanna go die in some bullshit game, feel free!" As he speaks he feels every word he says like a knife digging into his side. She let's go of the tight grip on his arm and starts moving her eyes rapidly, trying to process what he says. He mouth slightly opens for a second before she composes herself and focuses all her anger on Mirage.

"You...are...the most self centered, egotistical asshole I've ever met. You are just here because people like to make fun of you. No one actually cares if you are here or not! I know I don't. So go."

He feels like he just lost everything he's been striving for. Everything hes fought for, but the thought of his mother alone, hurts him even more. He stands visibly shocked at her response. Thinking this would be hard, but now realizing this was a long build up shes been holding in, makes all this even worse.

"Whatever. I'm gone." He turns and storms his way out of the hall. Wraith, fighting all of her emotions at once tries to remain strong for her own sake to find out her true self. Pathfinder holds her shoulder. "I'm still here, though." He says trying to put some positivity back in the room. Wraith turns to him with a grateful smirk.

"Thank you, Path."

She turns towards Blisk. Ever the sociopath, he shows no emotion to what looks around the room, now basically cut in half and finishes his speech.

"Those of us still here, are here because they have something worth fighting for, have the strength and bravery of a warrior and have the skills to back up those claims. To you, I salute. Do to this announcement coming as such a shock, we won't depart today, but we will first thing tomorrow. If not to get yourself together, then to get things in order. And remember Legends, if they kill you their better. If you kill them you're better. Simple as that. See you all in the arena."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

A few hours pass on a silent and still Yggdrasil Station. Wraith, sits in the windowsill of her room in her grey tank top with a red Apex Games logo and ripped jeans. Her arms crossed on top of her knees. She stares blankly down at the planet below, sure this will be the last place she will step foot on. Not knowing if she has control of her power enough to make it through the next day. She's trained hard, focused on her power and has a handle on it enough to see the nearest Future. Her eyes slowly fall to her crossed arms. She tries to think about the positive outcomes that can take place if executed properly. For her, there's a small sliver of hope that she and Pathfinder will find a third and win. She closes her eyes and when she does, all the dark ideas start flowing through. She begins to see small snippets of what could be the first day of the games. She sees death, despair and darkness on every corner of the map. Wraith begins to sweat and twitch at every Vision she sees.

Her breath grows heavy as the visions fill with bodies on sand & grass cover with blood, surge even more violently. Then before all of it can overwhelm her, an anxious knock hits her door. This sudden startle Snaps her out of her daydream and forces her to wake. As Wraith's eyes open, you can see them glowing with the light of the void, as if she was building up energy. She gets up slowly and reaches for the button. She stops for a moment then closes her eyes. That's when strange voices flood her mind. The voices stop when she gives a labored sigh. As she opens the door, she greets them without even looking at them.

"Hello Henry" She says sarcastically.

As the door opens fully, she sees Henry standing there. His arms crossed and stance stern, as if he was ready to give her a harsh scolding. Before she could invite him in, he brushes pass her. Pushing her slightly to the side, he walks over to her window. He stares down to Solace. There's a short silence between the two until Henry finally lets it out.

"Do you have any idea what you're getting into?" He says as he turns to her.

"You see this, this isn't a Battleground. This is a graveyard" he says turning to her. "And you're jumping from 5000 feet in the air, into a into a 6-foot hole in the ground!"

Wraith knows everything he's about to say, even without using the voices. Henry tends to go on rants whenever Wraith does something dangerous. This time she understands that he might be right. The possiblity of her death is great, in her mind, everything has a risk when it comes to finding out her truth, but also could lead to rewards. Wraith has spent every minute since she first stepped out of that facility she came from, trying to get back to herself. Trying to understand her powers, the world she was brought into and how to survive in it. It took a few years to master the level of control she has now, which is a testament to how finicky the Void can really be. He continues to berate her obvious lack of care for her predicament.

"...and look at you. You don't even have the decency to look me in my eyes when I'm trying to help you!" She looks up to his eyes after letting her mind wonder in the past for a moment.

"I know what this means. I know I will probably end up failing my mission and dead alongside MRVN," she pauses for a brief moment. "But I could never forgive myself if I don't try." She walks pass him to the window. Wraith looks down at Solace, pointing to it. "They finally open the island fully to be explored and the last place I could find any answers is right there! You have no idea how much it pains me to look every year for a few days and have to give up because I'm pushed back or taken out!" Wraith turns around and fericyly approaches Henry. "I haven't physically been there in so long. This is a chance to be there, actually. A chance to use my power to it's fullest and not just rely on some useless conduit on my wrist."

Henry just stands there in silence, face covered with anger and disillusion.

"I want this, it's the only way I can do this. Instead of a doll of me, it'll actually be me. Me and the voices that'llguide me the right way."

"Unless they kill you first." Henry interjects under his breath. He turns away from her to exit the room. Before he leaves, he stops.

"Don't expect my help. If you choose this then you and Path are on your own."

Theres a heavy silence that falls over the two of them. The room fills with the background noise of technology bouncing off one wall and into another. The small, colorfull lights around the room cascade across them. The large space between them gets large and large, yet they do not move. After waiting for a response to no avail, he turns his head forward and opens the door. He calmly walks out into the hall and stands as the door closes. Soon after it seals, you can hear him shuffle away like a wounded lion. A strong stride and hurt pride.

Wraith stands in the center of her room, looking down at her feet. Her fists clenching as if she was fighting the urge to strike something. Being alone is easy for her cause even when she couldn't handle being around people, she always had Henry above all else. Now with him cutting ties and Elliott walking away from the team, all she has left to confide in are the voices that plague her mind. Each of those voices seem fleeting and hollow. No real emotion or care for anything other than self preservation. She can hear the voices building up as a response. They grow and grow filling her mind with negativity, hate and doubt. She shakingly whispers to herself, still looking down.

"...I don't want to die".

As Wraith finds herself in solidarity, Mirage drowns his sorrows with rum at the Storm Shock bar. Mirage usually finds comfort in bars. Not for the alchohol or the beauties serving them. It just reminds him of the days when he owned his owned bar. The days when the holo tech was just a nice trick to bring people in. It was also a nice icebreaker for "drunk chicks with low standards". After all this time, he still can't help but find peace within these walls. As Mirage sits on his stool, the thought of going home and running his bar again makes him smirk just a bit. That changes quickly as he remembers that choosing that life again means he might never get the chance to become an Apex Legend.

Mirage takes a big swig of his rum to numb himself even more, but when he leans his head back to down his drink, he notices a holoscreen with a promo for the new season.

"_The Apex Games. The only way to survive is to be better. Last year your favorite Legends brought excitement and intensity to you live with our winners taking home the prize after the biggest upset in the history of the games." _

Mirage puts down his glass slowly as they show the feature clip of him and his team losing last season. He hates watching that clip, mostly because it shows his worst side. When his team gets shot down, he himself takes his rifle and kills the last two in the ring, or so he thought. He gloats while standing over his kills like a winner. He holds his gun over hours head, slams it down and proceeds to dance over them like the vintage vids he'd watch when he was younger. He slides backwards dragging his feet along the ground. As he comes to a stop he points his finger in the air and kicks the body with a flair. As he raises his hands high in the air in Celebration, he creates a hologram of himself clapping and celebrating… himself. But with the idea that he won in his head nothing could stop him from feeling like a king. That is until a shot rings out from a high building a far distance away. His hologram disappears and he slowly looks down to see a shot to a side and he falls straight to the ground.

After seeing that scene Mirage looks into the mirror across from him to see a dirty, greasy, unkempt version of himself. He wears a dirty t-shirt and baggy pants with undone long haired draping down to his cheeks. This is the look of someone who's given up on everything. Mirage can only see the person who he strives not to be staring back at him in the mirror as if his reflection was judging him as badly as he's judging himself right now. In the background the trailer continues.

_" this year will be even more exciting, because this year the stakes are high. This season, there will be no revives, no substitutes, just 100% action and adrenaline. This year all deaths are final. Tune in this season and join us on the Journey of becoming an Apex Predator."_

The promotion for the games switch back to the Yggdrasil logo. Mirage looks down into an empty glass muttering to himself.

"Whatever. Just another crappy show I won't watch anyway" he says as he pushes the glass away. When Mirage raises his hand to get a refill, he is interrupted by a Henry. He stands next to Mirage with a look that could stop bloodhound in their tracks.

"Witt …" Henry says as he stands over Mirage.

Mirage looks to him, " Hey! Henry, looks like you get what you wanted" he says in jest. "They'll have to find someone to replace me but we both know they won't be as good looking and…" Henry cuts hom off.

"That's not why I'm here. I'm here because I reluctantly need a favor."

Mirage looks back at him in confusion and amazement. As if all of a sudden pigs flew, fish drove and hell has frozen over. After all this time he never thought he would ever here Henry ask for his help. Usually it's the opposite between these two but Mirage could tell something was bothering him. "Oh Yeah? What does the great and powerful Henry need from his favorite legend?".

He looks ar Mirage in annoyance for a moment but it quickly turns to a look of submission as he readies himself for, in his mind, an act of complete humiliation. He pulls back the bar seat and sits a seat away from him. The bartender pours Mirage another drink. Mirage hands him his credits and reaches for his glass, but before he could drink, Henry grabs it. He takes one big gulp and lets out a muffled grunt.

"Yeah, bourbon will do that to you."

Henry looks into the reflection on the glass and finally asks his favor begrudgingly. "I… need you to go with Wraith and MRVN."

"Excuse me!?" Mirage says as he turns fully towards Henry.

"Look I know you have a lot to lose but-"

"Lose? I have everything to lose! It's called my life. Maybe if you had one, you would understand. Count me out."

Henry turns to him, "They need you!"

"If they needed me, she would come to me face to face. Not send her...her… what are you to her again?"

Henry gets a little more aggressive."I'm the guy who cares about her enough to stay. What the hell are you exactly?".

Mirage pushes his chair over and stands over Henry. "I'm the one that got them here".

"And yet here you are. Sitting here trying to plan on what you're going to tell your mother when you see her back home, huh? 'Sorry mom I was almost a winner, but you know. Shit happens.' That what you really want?". Mirage looks at him trying to find the words to deliver a striking comeback, but those exact words were all he could think about all day. How would he explain it. How can he explain how much of a coward he is, how much of a let down he is, but most importantly, how he couldn't earn the honor of Apex Predator for her and his brother's honor.

"She'd be happy that I'm alive."

"Ok, but would you be? This is not about just you. She needs you and you don't even understand the half of it!"

Silence falls between them. Mirage looks back behind him and sees that the entire bar is looking right at them. Their yelling match must've attracted their gazes because the only one not looking was older prospector looking man in the booth by the door. Mirage gets offended at the amount of attention that was locked on them. "What the hell are you lookin' at, huh?!". The bar freezes for a second and returns to their drinking and talking. Mirage turns back forward and sits down, "What do you want from me man? I want this, more that anything, but it's not worth my life."

Henry leans in closer to him "What if I guarentee you that couldn't happen?". He raises his eyebrows to show interest.

"Oh yeah? How are you going to save me doc? Does it involve a magic wand or prayer?". Mirage once again with the deflective witt.

"No but I have a plan, but for this, we have to trust each other.". Mirage never liked Henry, let alone trusted him. In normal circumstances, he'd get up and walk away, but he's so close to his dream and the money. He won't be walking away this time.

"You can really help me, how?"

Henry leans back in his seat. "I'll tell you, but first", he finishes his drink, "let me tell you what's really going on..."

While they figure out a plan, the other Legends prepare for the morning. They drink, plan, eat and get their estates in order. No one is ready for tomorrow. The fact that death is a possibility is a hard concept for anyone to grasp. That is, except for one legend who is actually looking forward to not just others death, but the possibility of his own. Caustic and his team can hardly hide their excitement for what's to come. Wraith, unable to rest soundly, begins to wonder where Mirage would end up. She can't understand why she's concerned at all for him. Whether it's due to har becoming attached to him because he was there long before anyone was, or if it's because she believes that without him, their chances of winning go from slim to none.

Pathfinder shared her worries about the outcome of tomorrow. Although he doesn't want to die before finding his creator, he would never abandon Wraith in a situation like this. Path finds himself thinking about how he met those two in the first place. It was a clear somber day with noises of the city and sounds of bugs fill the air. He came to Solace in hopes that he'd find more clues to where his creator went and who they even his stay he was enlisted as a "lost bot" and was taken in as a MRVN janitorial unit. One day he was ziplining high on the side of the building to clean the grim and filth off the windows, when suddenly he hears a shout from below. A man yelling at our favorite troublemaker Mirage.

Pathfinder zips down and slowly repels from the building. As he makes his decent, Mirage is being confronted aggressively by the large man. "Woah woah woah dude, like I said, she came on to me. I'm the victim here, you understand that right man?". He taps the man's shoulder as if to create some sort of understanding between them. This was a obvious mistake. The man begins to grabs him by the jacket and gets even angrier.

"That's my wife asshole! You callin' my wife a lier? A whore!?" He says as Pathfinder touches down and retracts his line.

"Well I definitely wouldn't call her a lier…"

"You piece of…" before he could finish his sentence, Pathfinder interjects as he cocks his arm back for a strong swing. "Hello friends, is there a problem?". The man turns to see him standing over them like he was apart of the debacle.

"What? Get outta here before I smash you like a can, dick."

"I'm afraid I must interrupt the fun and ask you to release this pathetic beta male please."

Mirage looks over his shoulder to Pathfinder in offense. "Beta male?"

The man lets go of Mirage for a second and approaches him. Path puts his hands up to his chest with open hands.

"GET. AWAY. FROM. ME!" He exclaims to Pathfinder thinking that be enough to scare him off. Just as Mirage gets up, Wraith is seen walking up the street to them, unaware of the confrontation until she hears his yells. The large man turns from him only to be once again stopped by our friendly robot pal.

"I would advise you, if you continue to assault this poor defenseless weakling, I'll be forced to get involved myself."

Once again, Mirage is not too happy with the word choice. "Hey! I'm standing right here."

"Ok scrap heap, you wanna take his place, here you go!" he grabs Pathfinder's chest monitor and swings his hand back. Waith sees this and rushes forward. As his fist swings forward with unstoppable force, Pathfinder puts his hand out stops his punch with and open palm grab. Wraith stops in her tracks, Mirage turns back after trying to sneak away. The man becomes shocked at the sight of a robot with such speed. He cracks the man's wrist and pushes back on his arm. Trying to defend himself, the man swings with the other arm. Path sees this and blocks this with his arm. The sound of clanking metal on bone was enough to make passersby cringe. After he blocks the fist, the large man bellow's in pain, forcing Pathfinder to realise him. He takes a step back to regain his balance. The man yells with fury as he attacks him again, only to be met with the same hand grab following a swift metallic punch to the shoulder. As the robotic fist makes contact, a moderate pop is heard. It was like biting into the center of a Tootise Pop without a single lick. The man stumbles back trying to regain his footing and his composure. Once he regains his balance, you can see his anger grow. Every beat from his heart he feels in his shoulder. This just brings him to his boiling point. The man exclaims "That is it!" before he pulls out a standard military issue P2020 and aims it at Pathfinder.

Pathfinder looks at the man for a split second before grabbing the hand & gun. He puts his thumb between the trigger and the back of the guard so there wouldn't be an accident. Path pulls his hand away from his face and swings his arm around, swinging it upward into his elbow. This breaks the man's arm and forces him to drop the gun. When Pathfinder hears the sound of the gun dropping, he decides to end this spectacle quickly. Thinking about the most reasonable solution in this situation that minimizes harm, he decides to kick him in the side, through a thick window. He is now realizing that form of action may have been a bit too…rash.

"Sorry friend, but you were a bit aggressive." He says looking towards the window.

When he finishes his odd apology, Mirage walks up to him to thank him. "Oh man. Oh ho ho man! Thanks, thanks a bunch uhhh… what's your name?"

Pathfinder looks confused but has their perfect answer. "Hello, my designation is MRVN unit num…". Mirage cuts him off before he could name off his entire number.

"Yeah yeah MRVN got it," he looks towards the man now laying in glass. "Hey! I told you not to mess with me Haha. Anyway,how exactly do you know how to, you know, do that." He points to the large man.

"I am programmed with over 32 different combative and defensive techniques for any situation."

"So you're telling me you got more of that? Oh, oh my friend do I have the opportunity for you." I'm the distance you can hear digital sirens blaring. "Come, walk with me. Talk with me. Let's get the hell out of here."

After that they were a team. They trained, worked, eaten, slept and breathed as a team for months until they were ready to finally sign up to join the Apex Games. Training was much different than beginning in the field. It was like everyone's personalities changed. They'd go from a tightly knit unit, to a gaggle of fools who got a few lucky wins. Mirage would be caught up in the cameras and fame that came with being a trickster he got fame and some cash, but only wins 2 out of 7 matches. Wraith would go cold. She wouldn't communicate unless one of her voices spoke first. She'd lead without word and leave the team on their own to be gunned down if it meant she could get ther jump on the competition. Lastly, Pathfinder had a tendency to try and put 'fun' first and surviving second. He tends to try and make friends on the field, which it's probably why he is popular amongst the other Legends. He makes himself an easy target and never thinks about winning, just fun. This group was and still remains the underdog. After all this time they've gotten better, but the underlying problems still persist.

After all this reflection on the past and their present issues, Path is now more nervous than before. He decides it's time to get some rest before heading down to Solace first thing. He steps onto his resting station and powers down for the remainder of the night.

As the night progresses he experiences this odd state of lucidity. Dream like, you'd call it. He gets flashes of strange images he can not recall the recordings of. One is of a tall bushy tree on a hillside then seeing static, transitions to a figure looking down on him. After that, another image of static transitioning to an image of loud booms and flashing leading to a quick flash of static and another image. This is wet, cold and dark streets. The sound of rain overpowers the surroundings. Then a loud scream stops the rain, triggering another round of even louder static. Pathfinder jerks awake to find himself alone. He can't help but recall the disturbing images he's seen. They have a familiarity with them. For some reason he feels fear, anguish, anxiety and all hitting at once. Emotions have never been easy for him, but these images triggered a flow of different emotions. Looking around he sees that 9 hours have passed. He steps off the station and hesitates to walk. Taking only small steps he makes his way across the room, walking past a mirror. He turns back and slowly walks back to his reflection. He can't help but stare at himself endlessly until he notices his chest screen was off. He tries to turn it on internally, but only gets flickers of static. He balls his fists and bangs on the screen causing it to flicker a few times. Looking closer in the static you can see the images he saw manifesting subtly in it. Although he is looking into the mirror, he doesn't see the dream manifesting in his static. The static disappears and shows his normal smiley face screen. Seeing everything is normal, Pathfinder leaves to make his way to the ship.

After a night of quiet contemplation and a hard talking with Henry, Wraith makes her way to board the ship to Solace City. She decided to take the long way around as a way to clear her head before jumping onto the madness. Seeing people buying and selling food, necessities and novelties with no cares put her somewhat at ease. The simple things around her are a kind of stress reliever. The smell of fry bread, the noise from one of Yggdrasil's many bars and the care free feelings around her make her head clear, but only give her a brief moment of peace.

As she walks by an old vendor, the smell of amazing food captures her attention. She turns to the window counter and looks at churro like food. It was like thick red dough twisted around with black sprinkles. The ends looked crisper thanks to its softer, fluffy center. The man standing at the counter pulls out a full one on a stick and holds it out. Wraith is taken aback at a hand coming at her in friendship and not with malice. She stares at his hand at first trying to process what's happening, but after looking at it for so long she focuses on the man behind the hand. He tilts his head and gives a warm, wrinkled smile. As if she'd just downed a shot, her chest files with warmth and face begins to become flushed. Wraith awkwardly grabbed it from his hand. He retracts and just keeps smiling. Wraith examines it to get a first impression. She normally doesn't indulge herself, but with impending doom looming on the horizon, now would be the time.

She puts it up to her mouth to bit, but moves her scarf out of the way first. After biting into it, she instantly she can't help but show her love of it. She begins cooing over the taste of it. The sweet yet bitter taste of the dough and sprinkles mixing gives a strangely overwhelming relief of her stress. She grins at the vendor and compliments hits food.

"Woah. This is really good. How much?" she asked the man, but he refused payment. He just shakes his head and continues to smile. She grins back and thanks him before heading towards the ship. As she makes her way through the crowd and venders,she enjoys her food. Without warning, Wraith unintentionally walks into the mysterious and terrifying Caustic. As they bump into each other, she steps back to keep her balance. He stands towering over her, staring through his black and gold mask. His white hair hanging down over the upper half of his face. Her eyes scanned him from boot to head, not noticing who it was until her eyes met his. He sweeps his hair back with a swift sweep. She looked up to him with growing concern in her eyes. Caustic, always being a sadist, wanted to take the opportunity to play his typical mind games on her as a way to sike out one of the only competitors he is cautious of. Behind him approaches his team comprised of the mad Titan and the savage Viper.

"Ahh the ever curious enigma portraying herself as a gothic warrior of old. I wonder, will you fall victim to the dogs or find yourself against the wolves in their den?"

Something in the way he speaks puts her on edge. She finds his calm yet intimidating tone menacing and full of malice. She regains her stance and tries to put on a front to show how little his threats faze her.

"You don't scare me" she says, feeling her steady confidence building stronger. Viper steps forward creepily, leaning past Caustic.

"We'll change that. Very soon.". His demeanor always puts everyone off. The way Viper makes his threats in such a poetic tone, could his Psychopathic tendencies be mixing with his higher intellect? Titan stays behind Caustic with his body turned away from the conversation.

"Don't we have somewhere better to be", he says turning is this gaze upon Wraith. You can hear his temper growing short in his tone. For the most part it's hard to tell whether or not that's eagerness to get into the ring or timidness to stepping into Kings Canyon.

"He's right. We have many other contingencies to plan for before the start.". And just like that caustic walks away. As he goes, Titan follows. Viper stands staring as he passes by her brushing her shoulder knocking her delicious treat out of her hand. Her anger boils over in her eyes and starts to shift. She turns to confront Viper about it is childish tactics, but when she turns, she's met with a wall of metal, otherwise known as Pathfinder. He stares at her blankly and she stares back in his big, red lenses.

"Are you ready, friend?" he says before they begin to make their way to the ship together. All the legends move into the large oversized ship. The ship was molded into squares, rectangles, and sharp edges. It was covered in advertisements surrounding the Apex logo on both sides of the haul. It may look clean outside, but inside is dingy and dirty. The smell of sweat, gas and must was overpowering. I guess being a Legend means you lose the will to be clean. All the Legends are separated into their own sections. Wraith sits looking intensely to the ground. The sounds of loud conversations pervade the air, but with her intense focus on her planning, it all just becomes background noise. After the intimidating shakedown from the terrible trio known as Caustic and his psychotic grunts, Wraith has been on edge. She looks up from her depressive stare to see Caustic staring at her. He leans against the metal beam with his arms crossed. He was always menacing, but ever since they announced the games becoming a legitimate killing spree, he's been more intense than before. It's as if this life or death situation has awakened something in him. Something dark.

He unfolds his arms and slowly walks back to the large group behind him and glances once more before melding into the crowd. His mind games have finally gotten to her. The pure animalistic look in his eyes, shakes her to her core. A cold chill spikes up her spin and sweat begins to build on her face. Her breathing gets heavier, as if the air was shallow. When she starts to think of the endless outcomes, her eyes grow white as pearls with blueish pulses around it. It's as if her powers are raging inside her, trying to come out. The sound of a pounding heart fills her ears like a drum being beaten ritualistically. Visions of bullet riddled bodies and bloody waters build in her mind. The voices begin to raise higher and higher until that's all she can hear.

'_They're coming...Oh no….watchout... death is coming….it's coming….death...is…", all of a sudden the voice changes._ It becomes deep and distorted_. _A vision of bright, raging eyes appears to her. A distorted male voice speaks to her and says "_**here**__"_ and forces her to snap out of it. When she comes to, Ajay Che stands over concerned.

"You aight?" She says showing some sympathy. "You look like ya havin' some trouble". She reaches her hand out to hold her shoulder, but as she makes contact, Wraith pushes her hand away.

"I'm fine" Wraith snarls. "Why do you care?".

"I'm just tryina help. Ya look like you're about to spew." She stands up and crosses her slim but toned arms. Wraith looks back at her with daggers.

"I'm fine. Stop trying to play mind games."

Lifeline looks confused at the accusation. "What game? I'm a medic, 'member?" Wraith holds back all the animosity she has right now. She sees this ship as a cage filled to the brim with dangerous animals. Being locked in here with all these killers wouldn't shake her typically. Normally, Wraith can wear bravado on her chest like a necklace, but with the stakes being winning or a permanent dirt nap in a unmarked grave, she is understandably on edge.

"Whatever, just leave me alone Ajay." Before the announcement, everyone was generally ok with each other. After, most people just tend to detach from the others. Everyone forms their groups and small three man teams and have been sticking with them. Wraith knows that this time, no one is friendly. Everything has a means to an end and Wraith has no intention of being a pawn for anyone else's schemes.

"Fine" she says, taking it offensively. "I'll leave ya to ya own devices. Just tryina help.". She saunters away with a sassy sway in her hips and a bitter taste of Wraith's rejection following her like a stench. The stench of eagerness and contemptment mix to create the foul odor. It's either that or all the disgusting mercs who decided to take part in the competition. The only thing worse than the feeling of being surrounded by constant enemies. The only upside she has right now is actually walking towards her right now. The notorious oblivious, but lovable clanker, Pathfinder comes from beyond the crowd of bastards and gunslingers. In her eyes, he resembles a ray of bright blue light, breaking through a sea of dark clouds. He approaches her with a can of what can only be described as a thick, lime green drink with strange symbols on it.

"Here friend. A beverage to help you!" He says enthusiastically trying to lift what little spirits she has.

"Thanks Path." Warith says opening the can to get a drink, but instead gets her nose assaulted by a strong, pungent smell similar to a dead Leviathan after a few weeks. She fluttered back a bit. "...For the thought…" she says as she sits the can down next to her. Pathfinder stares at Wraith curiously, trying to figure what could be upsetting her. As usual, he can't understand anything about simple things like that.

All of a sudden there's a bang and a loud rattle around the ship. The crew, knowing that the turbulence might be a shock to some, make an announcement. A voice regularly heard throughout the host island of Apex Games, speaks through the ship's system. "Attention. We are entering the Solace atmosphere. Landing will take place in T-minus 30 Minutes." The passengers go quiet and the room gets tense with silence. With a shaking ship breaking through the atmosphere, the landing zone lights up with cheers and sounds of celebration.

The people of Solace City are always excited for the arrival of the competitors. To them it means an influx of revenue, especially in the lower district's. The mercs and gunslingers tend to go to the more grimy sections of the city for "fun". A few hours in Solace, meant enough cash spent to put multiple store owners in a whole new tax bracket. Not to mention the damage done during their layover. Most of these people tend to get a little over excited and destroy a lot of property. Not city wide destruction, but everyone knows what flys on Solace and what gets you thrown out of the competition.

A crowd stands around the enormous landing pad cheering and screaming for the legends. Getting closer to the ground gets everyone's blood pumping. The ship straightens up and begins to land. The thrusters burts on and off, trying to level itself. The crowd loses their minds at the excitement they felt about to see the legends most likely for the last time. A roaring engine shakes the ground and gives the people trembles in their chests. The ship descends to the ground, hitting concrete with a loud thump and rattle. Metal scrapping and clacking over power the cheers of the crowd.

After they land, the large slanted door begins to lower slowly. When it opens, we see all the cocky and exaggerated Legends walk down ramp. They go first to get the spotlight and attention from the fans of the games. They are showered with shouts of praise and adoration like they would never see them again. Which, in this case, might be very true. The returning Legends are welcomed through town like celebrities. Being handed different gifts and culinary delicacies like fried flyer tail and kael deserts. It's like the world forgets its problems and focuses on their love for the games. Although the city suffers from rampant poverty, an increase in criminal activity by 20 percent in the last 2 years and constant corruption in local government that has been going on since only a few years of the city's founding, they still gather together for the Apex Games.

After everyone has gone through the crowd getting praises and gifts, Caustic's team walks through the crowd. They are met with thunderous and blood thirsty cheers. "Caustic! Caustic! Caustic! Caustic!", they all scream as his walk pompously past the crowd. In his mind they are all just mindless sheep, ripe for the slaughter. Wraith and Pathfinder on the other hand, wait for the crowds to follow the other contestants. As the crowd files back into the city, Path and Wraith finally emerge from the ship sloughing through the runway into the entrance of the city. A few people stuck around for them, but it wasn't for those two. They were looking for Mirage. His fans held up posters and clothing with Mirage logo on it. Passing by the fanatics was irritating for Wraith, especially when they began asking and demanding for Mirage. Wraith completely ignores the small crowd, walking through the streets to the nearest bar.

Meanwhile, Mirage has been home for a few hours and chose to spend his time out of the spotlight to visit his mother again. He walks into a home filled with photos of him and his family. The smile that comes over him staring at these photos is quickly washed over by sadness as he reminisces his days with his brothers. After all this time, they are still missing from the Frontier War. Mirage and his mother both hold out hope that one day they'll see them return. They put out their names & faces out to the world and beyond, but to no response.

Mirage is startled when he hears a voice from the other room. "Boys? Boys, is that you?", the voice says while rounding the corner.

"Oh! Oh...it's just you…" She says surprised that someone has entered her home without knocking.

"Yeah, that's one way to greet your son."

"Son...son...yes. Elliot! How are you, what are you doing here? Come here!" Mirage comes in to hug his mother.

"Sorry it's been a few days. Lots of stress this close to the games, really doesn't make room for free time, ya'know?" She stands in front of him smiling and offers to move to the other room.

"Come on, let's go into the kitchen for some coffee."

After they catch up on somethings and have mild conversation, Mirage starts drifting off in his mind. After a short blank silence she notices his troubled mind.

"Elliot, is something bothering you? It's not your brothers again, is it?"

Mirage snaps out of it and answers her, "No no, not that. Although I do have some promising leads, it's something else."

She reaches over and grabs his arm. "Tell me."

"Huh, well let's just say I've been given an opportunity to do something really cool, but...it has a lot of risk involved."

A look of worry washes over her face. It's as if she understands the "risk" without being told the full extent.

"Elliot, do you remember what I told you when you asked if I think you should join those horrendous games?"

Mirage looks down to his lap, "Heh, yeah. 'You can either sit on a bench or be who you're destined to be…'"

"Follow your dreams Elliot and don't look back. I meant it then and I mean it now kid. Believe it."

He smiles like he figured out all his problems with just a nice talk with his mom. He grabs her hand from across the table and thanks her for just caring.

"Thanks mom, really."

"Any time 'Mirage'." She says jokingly, as she stands to take his cup away to the counter. Before she could pour more coffee in their cups, Mirage looks to the screen on the wall and see what time it is. He jumps out of his seat in a hurry and starts gathering his things together.

"Sorry mom, I gotta go to ah...do a thing."

His mother looks confused. "Go? Well, what about your food?"

Mirage rushes out of the room for a moment and rushes back. Before he goes he decides to grab one of the pork chops on the plate behind her and kisses her goodbye. "Love you, see you soon."

"Elliot!" She yells to get his attention. Mirage turns back to her. "Say hi to your brothers for me at least!"

He pauses for a moment. Fighting back a frown and negative feelings, he grins and says, "Yeah mom. I'll tell 'em" as he rushes out the door.


End file.
